That is not the case.
The National Shooting Sports
Foundation, the trade association for the firearms, ammunition, hunting
and shooting sports industry, points out that no conclusive evidence
exists that shows hunters and target shooters using traditional
ammunition have caused a decline in the population of raptors. Rather,
raptor populations, including the population of bald eagles, continue to
steadily rise—a welcome and positive trend that coincides with the
longstanding, widespread use of traditional ammunition by sportsmen
across America.
NSSF points out that traditional
ammunition—the ammunition source that some demonize—is an irreplaceable
source of wildlife conservation funding. For more than 80 years, an 11
percent excise tax that manufacturers collect and pay on ammunition
sales has supported conservation and habitat-preservation efforts,
providing more than $207 million for conservation in 2012 alone. These
funds greatly benefit the health and populations of bald eagles.
NSSF, hunters and target
shooters have serious concerns about this USFWS study and other
misleading reports about traditional ammunition because they can lead to
unwarranted calls to ban the use of traditional ammunition, which we
vehemently oppose. Advocates of banning traditional ammunition also
attempt to cite human health risks, but studies have shown that those
who consume game taken with traditional ammunition do not have higher
blood lead levels than the national average.
NSSF considers this USFWS study
flawed for inferring a connection between bald eagle lead levels and one
potential source of lead in the environment—fragments of lead in
field-dressed game entrails—that is not supported by the data presented.
The authors picked traditional ammunition as a potential source of lead
from a list of other potential sources they acknowledge exist (historic
mines, Army Depots). Despite a lack of literature about exposure from
other sources (lead in landfills, paint and industrial sites), the
authors argue these sources are unlikely to be the source of exposure
for the eagles in the study and focus solely on ammunition fragments.
The researchers looked at 58
dead eagles. While the study leads with the finding that “Most (60%) of
the bald eagles had detectable lead concentrations,” this percentage
includes those that were only found to have background levels of lead.
Even eagles testing for higher lead levels didn’t universally show the
other physical symptoms of lead poisoning that the authors were looking
for.
Importantly, this study finds that a minority of eagles in the sample had potentially-lethal lead levels.
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